EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR EXTERNAL RELATIONS Transatlantic Strategy Forum CALL FOR PROPOSALS N o RELEX/C1/2009/TSF Application Deadline: 14 April 2009 An amount of EUR 50,000 was earmarked in the European Union s budget for 2008 in support of Transatlantic Strategy Forum (budget line 19.05.01). These funds are to be used to further develop transatlantic strategic thinking between the EU and the US that cannot be carried out under existing instruments of cooperation and dialogues. The purpose is to contribute to the construction of a shared transatlantic vision of the strategic challenges that will confront the United States and the European Union in the coming years, and the identification of potential transatlantic responses to these challenges with a global dimension. The project is designed to help building up a transatlantic capacity to identify the long-term trends in a number of key policy areas and to keep policy-makers on both sides of the Atlantic informed of the near and medium-term implications of these trends. The general objective of the Transatlantic Strategy Forum is to fund a platform for an in-depth dialogue among leading think tanks and policy experts during 2009 in the form of events organised on both sides of the Atlantic involving the funding partners and the experts from all relevant sectors, and to publish and disseminate the outcomes to the relevant policy community for discussion and debate. In order to pursue this objective, the Directorate General for External Relations of the European Commission is launching this Call for Proposals with the aim of identifying a proposal that is eligible for financial support under the above-mentioned budget line. 1) ELIGIBLE POLICY AREAS The Transatlantic Strategy Forum will focus on the areas of security, energy and environment, globalisation, demography and immigration and global governance. Transatlantic Strategy Forum 2009 Call for Proposals Page 1 of 7
2) PROJECTS OUTPUTS The project has to comprise the following parts: Seminars and workshops involving the leading think tanks, EU and US politicians, corporate leaders, academics and other relevant experts Publication of the project s findings that will be disseminated to all major policy makers of the EU and the US (a web version and a printed version will both be required). 3) TARGET AUDIENCE FOR PROJECTS Events and publications are aimed at representatives of legislators and policy executives at the relevant government level both in the EU and the US, non-governmental organizations, academic community, business representatives and other relevant experts. 4) ELIGIBLE TYPE OF ACTIVITIES Seminars, conferences and workshops; Publications. 5) PROFILE OF APPLICANTS Subject to meeting the eligibility criteria set out in Section 8, proposals are invited from the following kinds of organisations: think tanks and other policy-oriented non-governmental organizations other kinds of NGOs and civil society organizations universities, research centres not-for-profit business associations, Chambers of commerce trade unions and labour organisations Applications are invited from applicants from the 27 Member States of the European Union only. Applications involving both EU and US organisations are strongly encouraged, with the EU partner being the leading applicant. The project activities may take place both in the EU and in the US. Proposals from the following applicants are not eligible: individuals/natural persons governmental agencies European Agencies executive agencies of government bodies Transatlantic Strategy Forum 2009 Call for Proposals Page 2 of 7
6) GRANT FUNDING AVAILABLE The organisation selected will receive funding in the form of a grant towards approved project costs for activities taking place between 15 May 2009 (and subject to prior signature of the Grant Agreement) and no later than 15 March 2010. The total budget for this project is 50,000. From this budget one grant will be awarded. The grant will not be awarded for more than the amount requested, and the European Commission reserves the right to award a grant of less than the amount requested by the applicant. Individual grant amount will not exceed 90% of the allowable costs of the activities covered in the proposal. Community grants are based on the principle of co-financing. They complement the applicant s own financial contribution and/or national, regional or private assistance that has been obtained elsewhere. It is therefore compulsory to provide the co-financing necessary to complete the cost of activities covered by the grant awarded by the European Commission. 7) APPLICATION PROCEDURE All applicants must submit an application package comprising following elements: 1. An official grant request letter, dated and signed; 2. A detailed proposal (5 pages maximum), explaining (i) the purpose and the contents of the project proposed, and specifying (ii) the detailed timetable of the activities, (iii) the expected impacts consistent with the objectives, (iv) the nature and purpose of any resulting publications or other information products, (v) the means of dissemination of those products, ensuring effective targeting of interested groups, and (vi) the responsibilities and contributions of all staff involved. 3. A fully completed and signed Grant Application Form with all its annexes (the itemized budget of project costs and revenues, in euro 1 in sufficiently detail to allow identification and monitoring of the activities involved; it should be drawn up in accordance with the model annexed to the Grant Application Form); together with the required supporting documents indicated in the annex to the Grant Application Form. NB: in the event of a grant being awarded, the same individual signing the Grant Application Form must also sign the Grant Agreement, and have the authority to legally commit the applicant organisation to the terms of that Agreement. 1 Prices must be quoted in EUR (euro) using the Commission s official monthly accounting exchange rate at the time of submission of the proposal. http://ec.europa.eu/budget/inforeuro/index.cfm?fuseaction=countries&searchfield=&period=2007-5&delim=,&language=en Transatlantic Strategy Forum 2009 Call for Proposals Page 3 of 7
Please note: All applicants should read carefully the Guidelines for applicants which explain in detail how to prepare the application package, and provide information on grants from the European Commission. Applicants must submit all of the information indicated above or their application will be considered ineligible and their proposal will not be examined, as explained in the eligibility criteria established for this call for proposals (Point 8 below). In particular, applicants are reminded of the need to co-finance (see Section 1.4 of the Guidelines for Applicants ) Applications must be signed and dated by the authorised representative. The Grant Application Form, the Guidelines for applicants, and the model Grant Agreement may be downloaded from the website of the Directorate-General for External Relations at http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/us/grants/index_en.htm Applications submitted by fax or e-mail will not be accepted. All application documents must be submitted in English. Applicants are requested to send one original of their application package, completed in accordance with the instructions in the Guidelines for applicants, plus two (2) copies, by registered mail, or by courier service to: Ms Lenka STIBURKOVA European Commission DG RELEX C1, CHAR 14/003 (Ref. Transatlantic Strategy Forum) N o RELEX/C1/2009/TSF Avenue du Bourget n 1 1140 Evere, Brussels Belgium e-mail: Lenka.Stiburkova@ec.europa.eu Applications should be submitted at the earliest date possible, but must be postmarked no later than 14 April 2009. 8) SELECTION OF PROPOSALS Full details of the selection process are included in the Guidelines for applicants. Applications will be assessed and selected according to the following criteria: 8.1) ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA All applicants must: demonstrate status as a legal person, to be documented by Articles of Incorporation or other proof of legal status; Transatlantic Strategy Forum 2009 Call for Proposals Page 4 of 7
provide a signed Applicants Declaration (Part 5 of the Grant Application Form) verifying that the applicant is not in one of the situations described 2 ; propose activities which must take place in their entirety between 15 May 2009 (and following the signature of the Grant Agreement) and 15 March 2010; and submit properly completed applications and all required supporting documentation. Incomplete applications will not be considered. An application will be regarded as incomplete if it does not include a grant request letter, a detailed proposal, a completed Grant Application Form including the Applicant s Declaration, and all requested supporting documentation. 8.2) EXCLUSION CRITERIA Applicants may not participate in this Call for Proposals or be awarded grants if: a) They are bankrupt or being wound up, are having their affairs administered by the courts, have entered into an arrangement with creditors, have suspended business activities, are the subject of proceedings concerning those matters, or are in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for in national legislation or regulations; b) They have been convicted of an offence concerning their professional conduct by a judgment which has the force of res judicata; c) They have been guilty of grave professional misconduct proven by any means which the contracting authority can justify; d) They have not fulfilled obligations relating to the payment of social security contributions or the payment of taxes in accordance with the legal provisions of the country in which they are established or with those of the country of the contracting authority or those of the country where the project is to take place; e) They have been the subject of a judgment which has the force of res judicata for fraud, corruption, involvement in a criminal organisation or any other illegal activity detrimental to the Communities' financial interests; f) They are currently subject to an administrative penalty referred to in Article 96(1) of the Financial Regulation 3 : candidates which are guilty of misrepresentation in supplying the information required by the contracting authority as a condition of participation in the procurement procedure or fail to supply this information; and contractors who have been declared to be in serious breach of their obligations under contracts covered by the budget. 8.3) SELECTION CRITERIA FOR APPLICANTS The Commission will assess applicants' technical and economic capacity to undertake the proposed project. This assessment will be based on: 2 The Commission may request additional evidence confirming the Declaration. 3 OJ L 390/2006 of 30.12.2006 Transatlantic Strategy Forum 2009 Call for Proposals Page 5 of 7
proven previous experience in similar activities based on the list of the principal related projects undertaken in the past two years and/or the quality of the proposal; the details of the educational and professional qualifications of the person(s) undertaking the project, as demonstrated by their curriculum vitae; financial and economic capacity enabling the applicant to perform the tasks involved in this project, as demonstrated by annual accounts (balance sheet and profit and loss account) for the last two years and other financial information provided in the Grant Application Form; and evidence of co-financing capacity, with own resources confirmed by the signature of the legally authorised officer signing the Application Form, and third party resources confirmed in writing by the officer(s) identified in Part 4 of the Grant Application Form. 8.4) CRITERIA FOR THE AWARD OF A GRANT Proposals submitted in accordance with the submission guidelines and meeting the eligibility and selection criteria above will be evaluated according to the following quality criteria: relevance of the proposal: relevance of the activities in the light of the overall challenge at hand; design of the comparative analysis; design of the conference and dissemination of results; clear work-plan and time-table; expected impact of the proposed activities on the policy process; visibility of the project (dissemination of information, publicity, publications, follow-up, capacity to raise awareness about the project at different political levels); transatlantic dimension of the proposal (importance for the EU-US relations on the subject, active involvement and cooperation of organisations on both sides of the Atlantic in the execution of the project); cost-effectiveness of the project s various components. Each award criterion will be assessed and assigned scores as follows: Relevance (maximum score 5, minimum 1) Impact (maximum score 5, minimum 1) Visibility (maximum score 5, minimum 1) Transatlantic dimension (maximum score 10, minimum 1) Cost-effectiveness (maximum score 5, minimum 1) The TOTAL SCORE (sum of the five criteria for a maximum score of 30, minimum score of 5) of each proposal will be ranked against that of competing proposals. Transatlantic Strategy Forum 2009 Call for Proposals Page 6 of 7
9) QUESTIONS AND NOTIFICATION OF RESULTS Individual applicants should submit any questions regarding the award procedure in writing only to Lenka Stiburkova (Lenka.Stiburkova@ec.europa.eu) All applicants will be informed whether or not their proposal has been accepted. The Commission intends to make its decisions at the beginning of May 2009 (indicative date only). The information on the selected project will be published on the following website: http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/us/grants/index_en.htm 10) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS AND PAYMENT ARRANGEMENTS Grant recipients will receive a pre-financing payment equal to 60% of the total grant once the grant agreement has been signed by both parties. Successful applicants will be required to submit a descriptive report and a financial report in both hard-copy and electronic format, at the end of the project. These reports will be due no later than two months after completion of the project and by 15 May 2010 at the latest. After approval of the descriptive and financial reports, a final payment will be made, based on actual eligible project expenditure. 11) ADDITIONAL IMPORTANT INFORMATION Nothing herein stated shall be deemed a financial commitment by the European Union or any of its constituent Institutions. Grants will be awarded on the basis of available funding and only after approval by the European Commission. The terms and general conditions of a prospective grant are specified in the Grant Agreement. Submission of an application implies acceptance of these terms and general conditions. Requests to modify the terms and general conditions of the Grant Agreement will not be considered. Grants will not be awarded for more than the amount requested, and the European Commission reserves the right to award a grant of less than the amount requested by the applicant if the costs are considered to be too high or unjustified. In any call made in the context of grants or procurements implemented in direct centralised management, potential beneficiaries, candidates and tenderers shall, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council be informed that, for the purposes of safeguarding the financial interests of the Communities, their personal data may be transferred to internal audit services, to the European Court of Auditors, to the Financial Irregularities Panel or to the European Anti-Fraud Office (hereinafter 'OLAF'). ------------------ Transatlantic Strategy Forum 2009 Call for Proposals Page 7 of 7